apifare vs. managing your own API keys
Giving an agent real-world tools usually means one provider account, one API key and one bill per capability. Here is what changes when it all runs on one prepaid apifare key.
| apifare | Your own key per provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts | One apifare account | One account per provider |
| Keys in agent configs | One bearer token | One key per provider, each a secret that can leak |
| Billing | One prepaid balance; the listed per-call price is what is debited (CI-enforced) | A separate bill per provider |
| Spend limits | Per-agent daily or monthly caps and a kill switch, checked before each call | Whatever each provider offers, set up provider by provider |
| When money runs out | HTTP 402 with a top-up link your agent hands you | Each provider's own errors |
| Failed provider calls | Refunded automatically | Each provider's own policy |
| Audit trail | A signed audit chain you can export | Separate logs per provider |
| Keys you already have | Vault them once (BYOK); injected server-side, never shown to the agent | Stored wherever the agent reads its config |
When your own keys make sense
You already have negotiated volume pricing with a provider, or you need a provider feature apifare does not route. You can still vault that key in apifare and keep one balance, caps and receipts.
Give this to your agent
set up https://apifare.com/SKILL.md — and it takes it from there: key, config, first call. $5 of calls free.
No agent open right now? Two manual steps: ① get a key (email in, key out) · ② give it to your agent — one config line, every client has a setup guide.